Rodarte / Spring 2011 RTW

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Twenty-four hours before their show today, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte were holed up in the second floor of an anonymous office building on Thirty-sixth Street in midtown Manhattan, finishing up spring 2011, getting ready to make the magic happen. Clothes were still arriving, waiting to be fitted. Makeup artist James Kaliardos was busy gilding lips and eyelashes; the effect was of angels lining up to slip past the doorman at seventies New York disco inferno Xenon, not to get beyond the pearly gates. The Mulleavys were nervy, chatty, and spilling forth on what went into the collection.

They’d been thinking about Northern California—in particular, Santa Cruz. They’d been looking at the area’s rugged natural landscape—specifically Sequoia sempervirens, aka redwood trees. “We’ve been sending wood panels to Italy for the prints,” Kate said, laughing, explaining the knotty, grain-effect silks and leathers. And she and Laura had been considering the historical and cultural links between that part of the West Coast and Japan and China. That led to fierce armorial samurai-style paneling from the former—and romantic blue and white floral prints that recall the Ming Dynasty from the latter. “We wanted the dresses,” Laura said, “to look like vases.”

Strictly speaking, you don’t need to know any of this. You could simply appreciate this outstanding collection for what it is: chock-full of absolutely gorgeous clothes that don’t in any way resemble where the Mulleavys started with their label, or where they’ve been since, but which somehow unfailingly look like Rodarte. You’ll note the use of clothes. Rodarte doesn’t just make ravishing red-carpet looks for the likes of Natalie Portman—or costumes for her December movie release Black Swan, either. Spring has tooled leather jackets and skirts, whose scrolled and worked surface textures echo the wood theme, and tunics with mandarin collars worn with wide-leg cropped pants, in muted blue checks and utilitarian Japanese workwear cottons. There are dresses that nod to the thirties/seventies crossover that’s been going on, with print blocking and tapering, sinuous skirts.

Because here’s the thing with all those references the Mulleavys use: Each and every one emphasizes their unique viewpoint but also directly connects with the prevailing mood of the season. The closing numbers, with volume play rendered in golden silks, for instance. The Mulleavys captured the decadent seventies vibe that’s slowly insinuating itself into next spring, like faintly hearing the music from Xenon streets away. They likely weren’t even thinking of that. Yet those dresses are the best—and least literal examples—we’ve seen so far.